If Republicans Could Make Abortion About Killing Babies, They’d Win the Abortion Debate
Some Republican leaders, including some within the Trump administration, believe hedging on abortion will help the GOP retain control of Congress.
One Trump official reportedly criticized Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., for launching the Love Life Initiative ahead of the midterm elections, saying, “Picking a fight on an issue like abortion in a midterm is the height of asinine stupidity.”
This writer believes the evidence points in exactly the opposite direction.
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The Republican Party’s disappointing performances in the 2022 and 2024 elections suggest that abandoning moral conviction on foundational issues like abortion is not a winning political strategy.
It is political surrender.
Democrats have become increasingly successful at framing abortion as a moral imperative centered on protecting women’s rights.
That strategy is already underway.
A July 22 amicus brief filed in the federal case Louisiana v. FDA, signed by 47 Democratic senators and 212 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, demonstrates that Democrats are once again laying the groundwork to frame abortion as a question of rights rather than humanity.
Republicans can change that narrative by asking one simple question:
Who Is a Person?
That is the question Democrats fear the most because it moves the debate away from slogans and back to first principles.
The abortion debate has always been about what it means to be human and who qualifies as a “person” under our Constitution.
Modern abortion policy depends upon narrowing the definition of personhood by excluding certain human beings from its protection.
Republicans have an opportunity to reclaim the moral high ground by introducing a Personhood Clarification Act after the August recess.
Such legislation would force every member of Congress to answer a straightforward constitutional question instead of hiding behind carefully crafted talking points.
History teaches us that successful political movements are built upon moral conviction, not political expedience.
The American Revolution, the struggle to abolish slavery, and the Civil Rights Movement all succeeded because courageous men and women appealed to enduring moral truths before they achieved political victories.
Our Declaration of Independence proclaims that all people are “created equal” and “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”
Our Constitution exists to protect those rights, not to ration them.
If every human being is created equal, then the definition of constitutional personhood must be all-inclusive.
It cannot depend upon age, size, location, level of development, or dependence upon another human being. That is the Achilles’ heel of the modern abortion movement.
If Republicans have the courage to confront the issue directly, they can fundamentally change the national conversation:
- First, introduce a Personhood Clarification Act defining constitutional personhood as applying to every human being from fertilization until natural death.
- Second, bring the legislation before both chambers of Congress for a recorded vote.
- Third, if the bill fails, require every candidate for Congress to publicly explain his or her position on constitutional personhood.
- Finally, attach a Personhood Amendment to every continuing resolution.
If Congress is unwilling to recognize every human being as deserving equal protection under the law, it becomes increasingly difficult to justify debates over how taxpayer dollars should be spent for the protection and welfare of the people.
The question of personhood belongs before Congress and Americans
Voters deserve to know where their elected officials stand.
Ultimately, this debate is about far more than abortion. It is about whether America will continue to affirm that every human being is created equal or whether government will reserve for itself the power to decide which human lives deserve legal protection.
The question of personhood is not merely a political question. It is a moral question. It is a constitutional question. And it is a defining question for the future of our Republic.
Republicans should not run from it. They should lead with it.
LifeNews Note: The Rev. Jim Harden, CEO of CompassCare, a pro-life medical network based in Buffalo, New York, is married with 10 children. He passionately exposes unequal enforcement of the law and immoral public policy.
